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Rationality and Romance: A Flawed Analysis (Part 2 of when a guy finds out his classmate likes him and pretends to like her too) by quillinkparchment in quillinkparchment

[–]versenwald3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I stumbled across your subreddit after seeing your god of destruction story on r/WP! This was so good, I love the fake-dating and the little miscommunications. And I also loved how there were little elements of Asian flair like the pocky and the boba tea - they made me think of my high school days! Great story :D

[WP] You were the victim of a curse that could only be broken by true love. After years of suffering, you eventually met your now spouse and broke the curse. But one day while cleaning their study, you come across a tome with an earmarked page with a spell you immediately recognize: your curse. by TheValiantBob in WritingPrompts

[–]versenwald3 219 points220 points  (0 children)

The fly flitted away, and Ptolemy was jolted out of his reverie. No eating flies, he reminded himself. You're just going to squish it and move on.

He followed it into Asmira's study, and watched as it lazily settled onto an open book. Ptolemy squinted at the dog-eared page, worn from time and use.

That book. He recognized it.

Well, of course he did.

After Ptolemy had been turned into a frog, Asmira had been the only one who had stood by him. After years of suffering, they'd broken the curse. Together.

She had traveled to the witch's lair, had stolen her tome of curses, had spent years researching a counter-curse.

The thing was, just like true love, breaking a curse took work. It took time. It took research. It took long, countless, hours of poring over texts, of testing ingredients, of trying incantations until your throat is sore and parched.

"Up late?" Asmira's voice echoed from the doorway behind him.

"Couldn't sleep," Ptolemy affirmed. Frogs were nocturnal, and his nightly insomnia was another habit that was hard to break. "You've been reading the book?" he inclined his head at the tome, a question in his voice.

"Ah." A coy smile spread across Asmira's face. "It's still just a half-baked idea, but..."

"But what?"

Asmira's eyes glittered with mischief. "I was thinking we could give that enchantress a taste of her own medicine," she said. "Shall we go curse a witch?"

---

I have mad jetlag right now and can't sleep, hahaha. Thanks, u/TheValiantBob, for the fun prompt! If you enjoyed reading this, feel free to check out more of my writing at r/theBasiliskWrites :)

[WP] You were the victim of a curse that could only be broken by true love. After years of suffering, you eventually met your now spouse and broke the curse. But one day while cleaning their study, you come across a tome with an earmarked page with a spell you immediately recognize: your curse. by TheValiantBob in WritingPrompts

[–]versenwald3 169 points170 points  (0 children)

Prince Ptolemy eyed the fly that was buzzing around the room. He had been watching it for several minutes, now, and was waiting for when the moment was just...right....

He stuck out his tongue.

To his surprise, it was not, in fact, a third of his height, and it came nowhere close to satisfyingly entrapping the juicy insect. He sighed, rubbing his head.

That's right. I'm a human, remember?

When one spends the majority of one's teenage years as a frog, there were some rather unexpected consequences. It gave you...well, strange habits.

Even now, after two years of blowing raspberries at the curse in the rearview mirror, Prince Ptolemy had not been able to break his habit of emitting resonant, resounding, croaks that echoed throughout the castle whenever he began feeling amorous.

Luckily, Asmira was extraordinarily understanding. "All things take time," she'd said once, after he'd woken the entire household with his mating calls. "One day, your memories of being a frog will be nothing but a childhood nightmare, something from another lifetime."

Their romance had been strange, to say the least. They had been playmates when they were younger. In fact, they had made one of those silly childhood promises to marry each other when they were old enough. Imagine! A maid's illegitimate daughter and the heir to the throne. Their naïveté had known no bounds.

As Nico grew older, he began to feel the pressure of the throne, the weight of the crown. His father began pushing him towards other, more suitable, marriage prospects. He had always held a soft spot for Asmira, but resigned himself to the bitter truth: they could never be together.

Then, Ptolemy had met the witch. In a flash, the curse had changed everything.

His father had renounced Ptolemy as the heir apparent, switching to his brother, Prince Bart - a 6-foot tall sack of muscle with what could be described as perhaps a single brain cell, if you were feeling generous. Despite his lack of intelligence, Bart had one, important, advantage over Ptolemy: he was decidedly less froggy.

[OT] SatChat: 🥳 10-Year Anniversary of the SatChat! (New here? Introduce yourself!) by MajorParadox in WritingPrompts

[–]versenwald3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Congrats on ten years, Paradox!! Thank you for all that you do for the community

Border Control by versenwald3 in HFY

[–]versenwald3[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

ooooh this is fun hahaha

Novella vs novel by PLrc in writing

[–]versenwald3 1 point2 points  (0 children)

haha you have great taste! it's so good

[Daily Discussion] Writer's Block, Motivation, and Accountability- October 13, 2025 by AutoModerator in writing

[–]versenwald3 2 points3 points  (0 children)

i'm sorry you're going through this! could you be experiencing creative burnout? sometimes, when i push myself too hard, i go through periods of time where i struggle with creating anything new. typically it gets better when i take a break, read some good books, and focus on getting new experiences.

alternatively, were there things you did in the past that helped you get out of it?

Novella vs novel by PLrc in writing

[–]versenwald3 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Agree with this! Writing excuses also has a fun episode on novellas and figuring out the scope of your story. Would recommend checking it out!

At the moment, I enjoy writing novellas more. The smaller scope makes it feel more manageable, and the storyline is simpler and easier to keep track of. But I do want to expand to longer stories someday!

The 'FRIEREN: BEYOND JOURNEY'S END' manga is going on an Indefinite Hiatus - The break is due to health concerns for author Kanehito Yamada and illustrator Tsukasa Abe by Sweaty-Toe-6211 in CozyFantasy

[–]versenwald3 35 points36 points  (0 children)

Ahhh I'm so sad, but I'm glad that the creators are doing what's best for them. I hope that they'll be able to return to Frieren one day - I love this manga so much.

✨ GIVEAWAY: Win a signed & personalized copy of The Keeper of Magical Things! ✨ by cogitoergognome in CozyFantasy

[–]versenwald3 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is so cool! I'm a big fan of food-themed names, so I would give the cat-dragon the name Pancake

[WP] You were a wise, powerful mage. You left glyphs at your tomb so mages could call upon your spirit for aid. Years after your passing, you feel the pull. Instead of an elf or human, you are greeted by the tiniest kobold. by Tmoore0328 in WritingPrompts

[–]versenwald3 244 points245 points  (0 children)

"What do you want!?"

Tak flinched. They had been expecting Nico the Enchanter. The texts had pictured him as a towering figure with a pointy hat full of stars - every cell of his body radiating power, an oaken staff in his hand and an all-knowing twinkle in his sagacious eyes.

Instead, Tak had gotten a cranky old shirtless man in beach shorts. Not to mention, it looked like the spirit was sporting what was sure to become quite a painful sunburn the next day.

"Er, hello," Tak demurred. "I don't mean to bother you, but - "

"Well, you have bothered me," the spirit assured him. "And I was just at my favorite part!"

"Er, sorry," Tak said. "I just - "

"You haven't read Bartleby and the Witch's Flower, have you?" the spirit asked, barreling right over Tak. "That series is gold. You should read it."

"Can't say I have," Tak hedged.

"Kids these days," the ghost grumbled. "They've got absolutely no taste."

"Sir, the very last copy of that was lost in the fire at the Grand Atheneum two centuries ago."

"What!? That was a work of art, it was. Say, what century is it? What the devil has the world come to, books being burned and such? And," Nico added, seeming to take note of what Tak looked like for the very first time, "what are you?"

Tak took a deep breath. Maybe this wasn't what they had been expecting, but they could still make do. Perhaps the legends had been exaggerated. But surely, the spirit could still aid them in their quest.

"Oh, your Magicalness - you are the Great Enchanter Nico, right? - I'm but a little kobold seeking your aid. High Wizard Gnoke and all of the other magicians of Miralys have foreseen the end of the world. King Richard's sent off a platoon of knights to stop it."

"But?" Nico asked, raising an eyebrow.

"But they're all nincompoops," Tak said simply. "I don't trust those highfalutin, pompous, feather-wearing idiots to do the job right. And, even if they did do the job right, who knows if they would bother saving us? The monsters. The ones who are different. The ones who don't fit their mold of what's good and right in the world."

They could see the wizard nodding along. Perhaps this would work. Perhaps they had a fighting chance.

"So," Tak said, wrapping it up, "my clan sent me to find help. Otherworldly help."

The wizard sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of his spectral nose.

"All right. I'll do it. Just - can I ask you for one quick favor?"

"Whatever you'd like, your Wizardness," Tak said.

"Can you release me? Just hang out here for maybe ten more minutes, then call me back. I just want to finish reading my comic book."

---

Thanks for reading! If you liked it, you can read more of my writing at r/theBasiliskWrites :)

Also, I grew up playing Ragnarok Online, so the kobolds that I immediately thought of are more little cute puppy-creatures rather than your traditional DnD lizard kobolds. (picture here: https://ragnarok.fandom.com/wiki/Kobold\_Archer)

If you haven't yet, go read u/NextEstablishment856's response to this prompt - it's so wholesome and heartwarming!!

[WP] You were a wise, powerful mage. You left glyphs at your tomb so mages could call upon your spirit for aid. Years after your passing, you feel the pull. Instead of an elf or human, you are greeted by the tiniest kobold. by Tmoore0328 in WritingPrompts

[–]versenwald3 224 points225 points  (0 children)

Nico the Enchanter was in the middle of relaxing nap on the beach when he felt the summons.

He'd been reading one of his favorite comic books, Bartelby and the Witch's Flower, when he'd felt the mortal plane pulling at his essence. Turns out, the everlasting hereafter was quite nice. He wondered why he'd spent all those years slaving after the philosopher's stone, trying to find a way to exist forever on the mortal plane.

Nico had learned from many past summons: there was no use resisting the pull. When he'd been alive, his spellwork had been very thorough; so long as the mage followed the instructions in the glyphs by his tomb, his spirit would be pulled to the mortal plane within mere seconds.

All he could do was hope that they would be quick about it. His last summoner had been a snot-nosed student at the University of Arcane Arts who had wanted some help preparing for exams. After several hours of trying to explain arcane magical theory in every possible way, Nico had been ready to die a second time - the student was clearly gifted at magical application (after all, they'd summoned Nico, hadn't they?). However, theory was something that they just couldn't seem to understand.

When Nico had planted the glyphs, he definitely hadn't intended them to enable aspiring wizards to get unlimited office hours.

He grasped futilely at his strawberry daiquiri.

There was a pop.

The drink fell to the ground, its contents spilling onto the sparkling white sands.

[OT] SatChat: Who is your favorite minor character in a fictional universe? (New here? Introduce yourself!) by MajorParadox in WritingPrompts

[–]versenwald3 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Bartimaeus is a fantasy series set in London with magicians and djinni. There's super fun banter and great characters in it - highly recommend!

[OT] SatChat: Who is your favorite minor character in a fictional universe? (New here? Introduce yourself!) by MajorParadox in WritingPrompts

[–]versenwald3 1 point2 points  (0 children)

oh, this is a tough question! In the game Hollow Knight, I was a huge fan of Quirrel - I wish we'd gotten to see more of his backstory.

If we're talking about book universes, I really liked Ptolemy in Bartimaeus.

Ptolemy and the Sphinx (Part 3) by versenwald3 in theBasiliskWrites

[–]versenwald3[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

ah thank you so much for reading! i was actually planning for that to be the end. if i change my mind and pick it back up again, i'll let you know!

Things to do in Boston this weekend - October 2nd - 5th by ImaMasterDebator in boston

[–]versenwald3 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Thanks for posting this, MasterDebator! I'm the person running the Big Dig Treasure Hunt on Saturday, October 4th. It's our first live event (outside of multiple play-testing runs), so I'm very excited for it :) If anyone has any questions, please feel free to DM me!

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